Apple Considering Adopting AMD Processors for Upcoming Macs?

[nxent]

a few things....
1) how much is AMD worth and how much cash does apple have?
2) seems to be a bit of a calculated move on apple's part. intel does seem to have a bit of monopoly on the x86 market and apple's been burned on having a single processor supplier before
3) i'm sure amd's presenting apple with processor roadmap(s) that probably aren't public knowledge
4) when rumors started of apple switching to intel, wasn't intel's flagship pc processor the pentium 4? i seem to recall there being a similar uproar at the thought of os x running on pentium 4's...

 

[AidenShaw]

But this is Aiden Shaw, Ladies and Gentlemen!

Can we have any clearer example of an ad hominem post?

(Mr. Lawyer - that's not a good thing.)

 

[gohanmzt]

The real question is, will the consumer see a cost savings?

Sorry, no.

Steve
Sent from my iPad

 

[MagicBoy]

Just about every builder outside of Apple also sources from AMD. Not to mention that if market share is everything Apple wouldn't be here either.

Yeah but back when the P4 hit the MHz wall and started chewing electrons like they were going out of fashion HP/Dell etc were still selling multiple times more P4 boxes than AMD. The AMD stuff was mainly going to the price conscious home retail market. As I said before AMD make some excellent products so they're free to use AMD for those where they suit.

Those are some pretty specific details. Source?

Go find any review of comparable Intel and AMD laptops from the last couple of years. Intel always outperforms AMD on performance and battery life, therefore AMD must be a lot less power efficient. More power used = more waste heat to get rid of = bigger and heavier heatsinks.

Um, so does that mean it's time for some R&D then?

More likely time to appease the bank manager and the shareholders.

I don't think PA Semi and AMD are competitors in the same way you seem to think they are.

They make CPUs. Using your argument above a bit of R&D will see Apple right as they've got enough cash on hand.

 

[AidenShaw]

I've still got an iBook G3 from 2000 running 10.4 right next to me. What's the problem again?

But not 10.6, right? And not Photoshop CS5. And not....

Technically, I have a 1995 Toshiba Satellite Pro with a 75 MHz Pentium and 48 MiB of RAM (maxed out) that "still runs". It's running dual boot with NT4 and Win95, because it doesn't have (and can't support) the minimum memory needed for Win2K.

Many people replace a computer system because it is no longer capable of running their current applications/workflow as well as a new system. It's not a matter of one day the old system won't power-on and has to be replaced.

Your Ibook G3 can still surf the web - but is it your only computer?

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

I don't see why their is so much negativity.

If Apple did partner with AMD, they certainly wouldn't choose to CPU's that are inferior to anything Intel offered - that would be a step-back. Every upgrade is always a step-up in some capacity, and Apple obviously have something in mind that we are un-aware of.

I would even argue that the rouse around the MacBook Pro updates has forced Apple to make a move, seeing as the delays clearly annoyed many. Steve Jobs isn't daft either - the only reason he replies such short, to-point-emails is because he knows that those few words will circulate around the web in just a matter of hours.

And of course they're going to deny reports. Apple deny just about any 'report'!

 

[bigwig]

Intel did indeed have an impressive roadmap in 2005. If you look at it, however, you will see that Intel is already a couple of years late on delivering on the promises of that roadmap. There are also non-CPU issues: will Intel give AMD a Light Peak license? If Light Peak catches on it would be disastrous if Apple's machines didn't have it.

The question is whether AMD is caught in the MIPS, Alpha, PPC, etc death spiral. That is, are their sales volumes too low to keep up on the silicon process side of things? If you can't afford to keep up with the next process shrink, your inferior power and speed numbers reduce sales, making the next shrink even less affordable, until you spiral into oblivion.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

God, I hope not. AMD processors are no longer in the same league as Intels. Maybe for the lowest end macs if any.

They're about a 1/2 generation behind. The current high end stacks up marginally well to the i5 chips.

Additionally, the AMD chipsets are very well designed. Combined with a 58xx card, and you have about the same TDP as the current i5 + 330 combo, but with about 1,000,000x more graphics power. And I think many people would take a slight CPU hit for a huge GPU gain.

Not having a good enough gross margin, it make sense for Apple to look into saving money on components.

QFT.

 

[macnerd93]

my god I'm horrified I hope this isn't true, I dont want something like an AMD chip in a Mac which I consider I higher end Premium product, AMD are really what I consider a CPU for budget end machines not for Macs, I'd rather spend the extra just for a bit more quality and the better intel brand name. I would see the AMD chip base being only useful in Apple's server end market in the Xserve thats really about it

 

[yayitsezekiel]

noob question: will boot camp still work on these things? I'd imagine so

 

[Mindinversion]

AMD pretty much suck

You have no idea what you're talking about. For the price point, AMD absolutely rock for what they are. I could go into a technical dissertation on the subject, but I suspect you wouldn't understand it, so I digress

That said, I hope this isn't true either, since I'm fairly certain their PRICE POINT would stay the same, even if they're paying 50% or more less for the chips.

 

[TMay]

Not yet it doesn't.


First of all that's not a fact, it's a view. It's not even a coherent view since you're saying the yPad is a functional replacement for a netbook, which it most certainly is not. Netbooks don't need any other computers around to manage them as they can manage their own functions just fine without any external help.


The iPhone was certainly brilliant, in large part because it replaced many other devices and combined them into one easy to use and easy to carry super-device that almost made up the cost of the device itself. The yPad can make no similar claim in my view.


Again, not a fact, just pure speculation about something that may or may not ever be offered with today's yPad.


If I can't do actual work on it for my actual job then it's not a computer. It's as simple as that. I can do everything my job would ever ask of me on a netbook. The yPad? Not even close. But then maybe that's because I expect more than "pretty darn close" to a real paycheck.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/15/norways-stranded-prime-mi_n_539938.html

Guess this fellow has a different opinion.

 

[cmaier]

You have no idea what you're talking about. For the price point, AMD absolutely rock for what they are. I could go into a technical dissertation on the subject, but I suspect you wouldn't understand it, so I digress

That said, I hope this isn't true either, since I'm fairly certain their PRICE POINT would stay the same, even if they're paying 50% or more less for the chips.

No, I agree with him: AMD does suck.

 

[troop231]

Thought of AMD inside a Mac = barf in mouth feeling

 

[MorphingDragon]

Intel did indeed have an impressive roadmap in 2005. If you look at it, however, you will see that Intel is already a couple of years late on delivering on the promises of that roadmap.

The question is whether AMD is caught in the MIPS, Alpha, PPC, etc death spiral. That is, are their sales volumes too low to keep up on the silicon process side of things? If you can't afford to keep up with the next process shrink, your inferior power and speed numbers reduce sales, making the next shrink even less affordable, until you spiral into oblivion.

AMD is turning a profit and their global foundries alliance reduces the stress of die shrinking.

PowerPC is far from dead, its living on quite healthily in consoles.

---

Intel's APU (CPU + GPU) is different than what what AMD APU is. Intel's APU is two seperate chips inside the CPU package. AMD's APU is where an actual GPU core on the CPU die. (This is based off info avaliable currentlyr on google) http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/09/amd-fusion-sampling-soon-arriving-in-2011-with-llano-apu/
http://vr-zone.com/articles/amd-fusion--first-details/7576.html

They also rumour that floating point operations will not be handled by the CPU but delegated to the GPU. So you get what is essentially GPGPU funtionality without any effort. (Most GPGPU applications deal mainly with double accurate floating operations)
http://ritchan.dasaku.net/computers/amds-long-term-strategy-with-fusion

Bulldozer breaks away from the norm, but explaining it here would fly over all heads here a part form a select few.

If I could I would be intersted in buying AMD stock right now.

---

The only thing Mac OSX needs to run on an AMD system is to have its CPUID files decrypted. Look up Marvins AMD utility for more info.

 

[lilo777]

I don't see why their is so much negativity.

If Apple did partner with AMD, they certainly wouldn't choose to CPU's that are inferior to anything Intel offered - that would be a step-back. Every upgrade is always a step-up in some capacity, and Apple obviously have something in mind that we are un-aware of.

I would even argue that the rouse around the MacBook Pro updates has forced Apple to make a move, seeing as the delays clearly annoyed many. Steve Jobs isn't daft either - the only reason he replies such short, to-point-emails is because he knows that those few words will circulate around the web in just a matter of hours.

And of course they're going to deny reports. Apple deny just about any 'report'!

The negativity about AMD might not be well grounded but it is clear that the rumor is a clear case of BS. If Apple switched to AMD, it would be buying more than half of AMD production. AMD simply does not have a capacity to supply Apple (at least not yet). Any problem at AMD, and Apple is toasted.

 

[shervieux]

I'm on my 7th dell laptop at work in the past 3 years due to machine failures. I'll chock it up to horrible luck. (although it's a laptop, it never leaves the docking station or my office, so it's not rough handling).

Let's see... Dell Xps laptop - 2 years, internally cracked display. That was
after hard drive went a year before. Dell could not get the LCD
for it anymore. Got a macbook in 2008 and never had an issue.

A friend's 1 1/2 yr old Dell - Lamp on LCD went out. Dell could
not get the parts for it. He bought a used 2004 macbook and
just gave it to his wife and got himself a new macbook pro.

My work Dell PC - blew a hard drive; then blew the power
supply, hard drive, and motherboard all at same time. They
gave me a new Dell, within a year blew one of the raid drives
and having major issues with a win 7 upgrade.

HP mini tower - only got a year out of it.
HP tower - used it for 1 1/2 years, completely rebuilt the
machine for my wife to use, she started complaining on how
slow it was just surfing the net, so I got her a mac mini in
2008. She is now a happy camper.

Prior to that I was building PC's myself about every year to 2 years.

About the only PC that gave me more than 2 years was a yr 2000 Pentium III classed Celeron Toshiba laptop. I gave it to my old Pastor in 2005 (or was it 2006) as he needed a laptop. He only uses it for word, a small access like database for the church directory. (of course I upgraded the hard drive and Ram in it for him). He is still using it today. IN fact the newer desktop PC that was in his office hardly got use. He said it was fustratingly slow and kept having to be repaired.

*Actually it was 2006. I needed a newer laptop to run an application for work and that was when I got the Dell XPS.

 

[Bill&Rose]

AMD makes good CPU's, I still have a AMD Athlon64 I built back in 2003 running Windows Vista today and it is plenty fast.

Me thinks it is Apple and Steve Jobs who are lazy, read for the reasons why:

Apple Fans Are Clueless About Security, Hacker Says

Not only are Apple fans misguided about the Mac's security, but Apple doesn't take security as seriously as Microsoft, according to one expert.

Preston Gralla
Apr 16, 2010 5:29 pm

Apple fans who claim that the Mac is more secure than PCs not only are wrong, but they're ignorant about their security risks, says a well-known hacker and security expert who has made a name for himself finding vulnerabilities in Windows. And Apple itself doesn't take security as seriously as does Microsoft, he claims.

Marc Maiffret, currently chief security architect at security firm FireEye first gained a modicum of fame as a hacker targeting Microsoft products. For example, he uncovered the security hole that the Code Red worm exploited back in 2001 to attack Windows servers.

He's been no stranger to publicity, being one of the hackers featured on MTV's I'm a Hacker, and named as one of People Magazine's "Next Wave" of people to watch, back in 2004.

In an interview with CNet, he claims that Microsoft takes security more seriously than does Apple, and excoriates Apple fans as being "ignorant" about security risks.

Maiffret says he believes Microsoft does one of the best jobs in the industry around security, telling CNet:

"From an internal process in how they go about auditing their code and securing software from a technical perspective, they do have one of the best models. The area they still have room for improvement is around time lines of how long it takes for them to fix things."

As for Apple and its fans, he has very little good to say, saying that the Mac is vulnerable, and its fans ignorant about security risks:

And he leaves no doubt that he believes Microsoft as a company pays more attention to security than does Apple, and says the only reason the Mac hasn't been targeted by malware writers is that it doesn't have a large enough installed base:

 

[Speedy2]

Additionally, the AMD chipsets are very well designed. Combined with a 58xx card, and you have about the same TDP as the current i5 + 330 combo, but with about 1,000,000x more graphics power.

Unfortunately, the CPU to match the Core i5 will already make up for that TDP lead and actually turn it into a big deficit.

It's true though that the platform is AMD's strength at the moment. The chipsets are clearly better and they have a better GPU. Although the latter isn't really an advantage vs Intel, since you can easily put an AMD GPU into an Intel-based computer, and GPU performance for integrated chipsets doesn't really matter since even AMD's fastest iGPU is miles behind their cheapest dedicated GPUs and too slow for serious GPU action.

 

[MorphingDragon]

The negativity about AMD might not be well grounded but it is clear that the rumor is a clear case of BS. If Apple switched to AMD, it would be buying more than half of AMD production. AMD simply does not have a capacity to supply Apple (at least not yet). Any problem at AMD, and Apple is toasted.

You under-estimate global foundries.

 

[MorphingDragon]

SNIP

Thats not relevant AND Preston is a known Microsoft advocate.

 

[macnerd93]

AMD makes good CPU's, I still have a AMD Athlon64 I built back in 2003 running Windows Vista today and it is plenty fast.

Me thinks it is Apple and Steve Jobs who are lazy, read for the reasons why:

Apple Fans Are Clueless About Security, Hacker Says

Not only are Apple fans misguided about the Mac's security, but Apple doesn't take security as seriously as Microsoft, according to one expert.

Preston Gralla
Apr 16, 2010 5:29 pm

Apple fans who claim that the Mac is more secure than PCs not only are wrong, but they're ignorant about their security risks, says a well-known hacker and security expert who has made a name for himself finding vulnerabilities in Windows. And Apple itself doesn't take security as seriously as does Microsoft, he claims.

We mac users are not ignorant we are correct , Think of Mac OS X as a building on top of a cliff top hard to get too but not impossible, so it needs less people to guard & protect it.

Windows on the other hand is more like a bank in the rougher parts of town with a failed Alarm system and with no doors inwhich anyone could walk up to with ease.

There has NEVER been a virus for Mac OS X only trojans and even the worst trojans are never as bad as the security issues you get on windows

 

[Rogzilla]

Thats not relevant AND Preston is a known Microsoft advocate.

Yeah! Jez-US I just googled the guy. The first article I read was him saying how great VISTA was. *rolls eyes* Yeah, FAIL!

 

[TSE]

AMD isn't so far behind Intel right now. The Turion/Athlon IIs are proven to be faster than comparable Intel Core 2 Duos, but lags behind Core i technology, so lets see what AMD has to counter i3/i5/i7 and see if they actually have it in them to fight.

I have an AMD notebook right now and I love it.

 

[ynk1121]

Ugh, I hope this doesn't happen. AMD graphics are nice but their CPUs have been crap compared to intel. Yeah, they are cheaper but Apple isn't supposed to be about cheap products.